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Short Film Review: Falling in love Again (2016) by Jacky Yeap

How did Godard do it? A cinephile-turned-cineaste, Jean-Luc Godard seamlessly – and indeed, co-founded a new film movement! – made cinema history with his low-budget equipment, quirky sense of humor, and unconventional ideas. However, filmmaking – though a valiant endeavor – is easier said than done. Amateur films tend to entertain poetic notions, but the technical constraints allow the overall product to fall flat. 

Jacky Yeap's 2016 short “” is no exception. A nameless twenty-four year old () wanders around aimlessly, after his girlfriend of one month breaks up with him that morning. When he frequents a local joint for some comfort food, he meets Ah May (), a quiet woman mulling over her boyfriend's proposal. In a bout of spontaneity, the two walk and talk out their romantic worries, growing more attracted to each other as the night goes on. By the end, they realize that even fate has a time limit – and magic can only last so long before the responsibilities of reality kick in. 

For a film about loss and longing, Yeap's work is an affable attempt. The script is poetically worded, as is the voiceover; off-screen narration recalls Tony Leung's reflections of Wong Kar-wai's “2046”, growing Jared Yang's aural charisma. The long takes too feel deliberate, as they maximize upon the alienation felt between the characters and their city surroundings. 

But the atmosphere simply isn't there. Yeap falls into common traps endemic to emerging filmmakers: crude lighting; an excess of noise; and, cringe-inducing enough, awkward choreography. For a film that is bent on maintaining the distance (I guess, more appropriate for our #socialdistancing era?), sometimes the distance is simply… too far. The camera struggles to frame characters together – they either completely fill up the screen or are microscopic – degrading many would-be elegant long shots into an artless CCTV view. 

The actors too flounder around in their bland cinescape because of their ungainly direction. Most notable of these is Boss (). When the new couple engage in their stilted exchange at his restaurant, Boss is noticeably — and pitifully! — positioned in the middle. He's simply a distraction: fiddling his thumbs, playing with his phone, drawing attention to himself in what would otherwise be a still landscape. Yeap's world crumbles in his bumbling homage to minimalism, priding narrative continuity and visual composition over the end result. 

Overall, Yeap's film doesn't illustrate; it simply shines a harsher light on his low-budget set-up. However, the fresh-faced director clearly demonstrates his deeper love for existing auteurs, and shows promise in scriptwriting. Should Yeaps take a more detailed approach, his work could substantially improve. There's more to minimalist cinema, after all, then a simple camera set up on a tripod. 

About the author

Grace Han

In a wave of movie-like serendipity revolving around movies, I transitioned from studying early Italian Renaissance frescoes to contemporary cinema. I prefer to cover animated film, Korean film, and first features (especially women directors). Hit me up with your best movie recs on Twitter @gracehahahan !

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